Hunt for the Doctor
by Jonathan Welks
Summary: The Doctor has abandoned Gallifrey after dismantling the war counsel. Without a leader Gallifrey is threatened with falling into chaos and disorder. One Time Scout is sent out to find and bring the doctor home to lead his people. The Doctor, however, won't go home without a fight. This story takes place after the end of season 9.
1. A Mission of Importance

In the largest tower, the pierced the Gallifrey sky two women sat at a large table. The chairs at the table would normally be occupied by the council that governed the people of Gallifrey, but after an angry man in a blue box usurped the standing government and then left the planet. The room now had a lonely almost eerie feel.

" What makes you think your man can convince the Doctor to return?" Ohila said staring with irritation at the alliance she had been forced into with the Time Lord's due to the Doctors actions.

" I don't think he can convince the Doctor to return, but we need to at least attempt to get the Doctor back by any means necessary." Said the General pacing around the room, her armor making noise with each step.

" If you even hope to have a chance of the Doctor returning then this man better be your best time… what do you call them again?" Ohila asked dismissively

" Time Scout." The General shot back.

Since Gallifrey's return and subsequent relocation to hide at the end of the universe, the Time Lords became strict about who could go off planet and who could operate a TARDIS. To not attracted attention in the other worlds use of a TARDIS had been relegated down to a smaller section of the Time Lord military, the Time Scouts. Before the time war the Time Scouts where a lower branch of the military as their primary job was to go on single man missions to other times and places to find whatever person, object, or fact the Time lord's needed at that point. They weren't viewed as much more as errand boys to the higher-ranking officers. After the time war, the Scouts found themselves being called upon for tasks more often as the Time Lords now needed more secrecy. Unfortunately for them, while the Scouts received more responsibility they did not receive more respect.

"I will admit he's not our best scout, but he values discretion, and that's what we need right now."

" Why are you still even here? The Doctor is not your concern, and neither are the issues of Gallifrey." Asked the General

" While I have not love for the Time Lords and are correct in your assertion that Gallifrey is not my concern, you are one wrong in one important aspect. The Doctor is most certainly our concern. The Sisterhood of Karn still has need of the Doctor."

"And what need would that be?"

"Now that, General, is none of your concern?"

"I look forward to when this is over."

"As do I General."

The doors to the council chamber creaked open and through them walked a short but lanky man who removed his hat out of respect to relieving his short black hair.

"You asked for me General?" Asked the scout standing at attention.

"Yes, I did, at ease scout. Now, what you're about to hear is classified information, no one is to know about this except for the people in this room. You understand?"

"Yes ma'am, but if this matter is of this much importance shouldn't the Doctor be here too."

The General gave a heavy sigh while ohila couldn't hide her enjoyment at the General's shame. "The Doctor is gone."

"Gone… but he was supposed to take over and lead us. When is he coming back?"

"The Doctor isn't coming back boy. Once the Doctor runs he'll just keep running." Ohila piped up.

"When did he leave?" Asked the Scout as if he was interrogating the pair.

"Shortly after he sent the old council off planet. He used us to revive an old companion."

The Scout was saddened by this, but the feeling the was most visible on his person was rage. "Everyone was talking about how he would change our world for the better, how we could come out of the shadows." Said the Scout softly, almost to himself.

"We need you to bring him back."

"Consider it done. I'll bring the Doctor back and he'll answer for what he did to us."

"No, we need him back to lead us."

"But… but he isn't fit to lead us after what he's done."

"The doctor runs, that's what he does. But like it or not we are in a position right now where we need him. We need you to bring him back, by force if you have too, and we will make him stop running for once."

"Shouldn't the people know about this?" Asked the Scout?

"Consider your reaction to the news. Now think about that on a planet wide scale, if your people know the doctor ran there would be rioting in the streets." Answered Ohila.

" Only you, and a few other soldiers know, and they've promised to not breathe a word about this. So, can we count on you to bring the Doctor home?" Asked the General.

"I will do whatever it takes to make sure Gallifrey has the hero it deserves." Said the scout proudly.

"Excellent, you should begin your search on Earth. Specifically London in 2016, that's where the Doctor is known to spend most of his time. You'll find some clothes in your TARDIS that will help you blend into the crowd." The General explained.

"And one more thing." Added Ohila "The Doctor can be a dangerous man when angered, and if you try to bring him back he will consider you an enemy. All the enemies of the Doctor fear him, even the Daleks. So, if you go down this road, tread lightly."

The Scout was a bit shaken by the words of Ohila and her unflinching stare at him while she talked. The Scout saluted the General, which she returned, and made his way down to the TARDIS bay.

The TARDIS by went on for miles with rows of identical gray cylinders. Amists all of the gray TARDIS's the Scout was still able to easily find his own from the faint hum it whispered into his, and only his, ear. Inside the Scout's TARDIS among the white walls and bright fluorescent circular lights that made up the default setting on a TARDIS interior, the Scout found a large wooden box laying under the console. The Scout immediately went for the console wanting to take off as soon as possible and threw the bright red switch causing the TARDIS to begin flying through the skies of Gallifrey. Turning a few more dials and levers, the TARDIS was quickly away from Gallifrey and hurdling through a time tunnel. Setting the console into autopilot, the Scout decided to reactivate his usual chameleon circuit settings.

The outside of the TARDIS slowly changed from a gray cylinder to set of ornate double doors connected by a large brown door frame. The interior of the TARDIS began to spin and warp around the Scout until the familiar forties jazz club setting surrounded him. The Scout made the interior of his TARDIS a jazz club after a visit to Earth. The Scout loved the atmosphere, and the music that played in the smoke filled bar but couldn't stay for too long. So, the Scout decided he would build his own club inside his TARDIS, complete with robot bartenders and singers that played all the hits.

Now that the settings for his TARDIS were complete the Scout decided to look in the wooden box. Inside the box where the clothes the General told him about and, happy with the selection of clothes the scout quickly changed out of his red uniform and into his new outfit. The Scout put on the long beige trench coat and tightened the red tie around his neck and was happy with what he saw in the mirror.

An alarm blared and the Scout rushed over to the computer monitor. "Arrival in London, 2016 Immonet." Shined on the screen of equipment, the Scout smiled to himself. He was ready, to not only save his home but to also take down his hero.


	2. Investigation

It was an average cloudy day in London as Henry Wells was returning home with his shopping. Henry's cane click against the cement sidewalk supporting the limping man. While Henry had only recently turned thirty, his body had the frail shape of someone far beyond his years. His body had been like this since birth due to a rare deformity that made his bones incredibly weak. Deep down Henry would feel sad about his condition, lamenting the fact that he would never be able to play football or run a marathon.

But, Henry always tried to keep a smile on his face, for there was nothing that upset him more than when people felt sorry for him. On his usual path home, Henry noticed something different. At first, he just passed by it not even realizing it was there, but just how out of place this thing was peaked Henry's curiosity. On a wall in an alleyway was a large ornate door that stood there with a mystifying air about it.

The door captivated Henry and the mystery of what could be on the other side and the question of how this door just appeared made him reach for the doorknob almost hypnotically. Before Henry's fingers even touched the brass of the doorknob he snapped back to reality realizing that he shouldn't just walk into a strange door, no matter how curious he was about what was on the other side. Henry limped as quickly as he could down the street wanting to put as much distance as he could between him and the strange door. By the time Henry got back to the small house where he lived the strange door had fallen to the back of his mind. What was currently at the forefront of Henry's mind was that he had not yet said his daily prayers.

Wanting to rectify this Henry made his way to the small shed in his back yard and as the midday sunlight flooded the shed, Henry kneeled in front of a large mural of a blue police box that was erupting with golden light.

"Please Doctor, watch over us all every day, in every time, in every place," Henry said his knees begging to shake.

Henry stood up from his prayer and as fast as his frail body would allow started setting up folding chairs in front of the mural.

"No, that can't be right!" Said the scout checking the image on the screen for the third time. "He has to be here!"

"Scanners show the last time the Doctors TARDIS was on earth was three months ago." The robotic but soothing voice said from the computer that hung from the ceiling.

"When do you project he'll return?" the Scout ask impenitently

"That is impossible to predict." The computer replied.

"You could always just wait for him to return. He's known to frequent earth." Said Jerry, the robot bartender, who was in the middle of pouring a drink for no one in particular.

"We have no idea when he will be back. It could be five days or five years, and we don't have that kind of time to wait."

"Well, we are in a time machine, so time is relative," Jerry said

"Yes, but unless we know the exact time the Doctor will be at we might miss him." Said the Scout growing increasingly agitated.

"We could-." The Scout quickly cut Jerry off.

"Can you just let me think for a second, I don't want your advice right now!"

"As a synthetic bartending unit I'm programmed with an advice module." Jerry reminded the Scout.

"Can you shut it off for a few minutes then?"

"Can you try shutting off your attitude?" Jerry mumbled to himself returning the liquid from the glass to the bottle with perfect precision.

" I'm heading out. Maybe I can find some clues to the Doctor's Location. Computer, where was the Doctor's last known location on earth."

The Computer was silent as an hourglass flipped around on the screen. " A small residential street a mile north."

" Let me know if anything changes. Jerry! If no one is drinking that, then stop pouring it out." The Scout pulled on his coat and opened the door onto the dark street.

" Do you want this?" Jerry asked offering the whiskey to the computer.

" No thank you. I'm trying to cut back."

The Scout had only been to London a few times in his travels, and most of those times he didn't stay for long. The one thing he did always remember about London was that it was cold, wet, and the sun never seemed to shine.

" The Turaskin vampires would love this place." thought the Scout Fliping open his datapad disguised as a cigarette case and studied the map that the computer had uploaded.

The walk didn't seem too long as the Scout entered the street the Doctor had landed on. The map guided him to the particular location where the TARDIS landed, and the Scout began his investigation. Despite the Scouts years of practice in the art of investigation, the average street corner yielded no clues to the Doctor's location. The corner was so average and of no account that no one could even guess that the most famous Time Lord in the universe had parked his TARDIS there for a time. The Scout never gave up faith though and continued to search every loose piece of gravel and every small crack in the sidewalk. The Scout was in tuned to his investigation that he almost didn't notice the large procession of people, who were also so focused on their destination to notice the strange man who now had his face two inches from the ground.

Popping his head up from the ground, feeling the vibrations from the footsteps near him, the Scout stopped the closest person in the procession.

"Where is everyone going?" asked the Scout watching the crowd.

The old man the Scout had stopped gently held the Scout's hand and looked at him with kind eyes. "We are on our way to pay homage to our protector. Please join us, not enough people know how much the Doctor does for us."

The Scout whipped his head around, both his hearts pounding like an enthusiastic bongo player. "Did you say the Doctor?"

The kind old man clenched the Scouts hand with excitement. "Yes! Yes! You know of the Doctor?"

"I'm looking-." The Scout caught himself. "I met him once. I was hoping to find him again."

"You've actually spoken to the Doctor?" asked the old man looking at the scout like he was a prospector who had just found gold.

"Um, once." This was not entirely a lie as the Scout had met the doctor during a training exercise at the academy.

The exercise involved the Scout, and eight other students working together to fly a TARDIS built to be flown by multiple pilots. The Doctor was in charge of teaching this exercise, which was considered a punishment for him as he had recently taken a TARDIS without permission and had come back with a dodo bird, which he had taken to calling Benny. The exercise started regularly, each student was stationed at the area of the console that they had studied and the flight was going smoothly. The Doctor, however, quickly got bored with this and told everyone to switch positions with the person on their right. This caused massive confusion and panic as now everyone was faced with buttons and levers they had no idea what to do with.

While the ride was by, no means smooth the students were able to keep the TARDIS in the air. Then, once again, the Doctor got bored and told everyone to move away from the console, and after placing Benny on top of a large button began attempting to fly the ship himself. No one was able to stay on their feet as the ship spun, jerked, swayed, and dashed around the sky of Gallifrey before plummeting into the side of a hill. Besides a few scratches and bruising no one was seriously injured, but Benny the dodo disappeared after that day and was never seen again. Some people say he still walks the planet's surface looking for a way home.

While many were angry with the Doctor for putting everyone in danger, the Scout couldn't help but look up to the Doctor. The Scout would never have pulled such a crazy stunt like that, he would have followed the rules to the letter and taught the exercise normally. that's why he looked up to the Doctor, he was a renegade, a man who did whatever he found fun or adventurous. The Scout knew he could never be like that, but loved the fantasy of breaking the rules and living like the Doctor.

"Everyone! Over here! This man has spoken to the Doctor!" Shouted the old man with everyone who could hear him now surrounding the Scout asking him question after question about their messiah.

"Please, give me some room!" Shouted the Scout growing frustrated with the crowd.

"He's right!" Cried the old man again. "Let's all go to the temple, he can tell us all there."

The Scout felt like he was being pulled by a wave as all of the worshipers moved quickly towards their temple. Their "temple" as the Scout quickly found out was a shed behind a house barely big enough to hold a car. The double doors to the shed were quickly pulled open, and the Scout was pushed inside along with everyone else in the large group who were trying to pack into a small space where there simply was no more room.

"Well, kind of you all to show up." Said the young, sickly looking man behind the podium with a large mural of the Doctor's TARDIS behind him.

"We're really sorry Henry, but this man has actually spoken to the Doctor!" Yelled a woman from the front of the crowd.

"What? Well, why didn't you say so! Get up here!" Henry limped down from the podium and took a seat in the front row laying his cane across his lap.

In a flash, the Scout found himself in front of the large silent audience waiting patiently for him to speak.

"I… What do you want me to say?"

"Just tell us about him." Said Henry smiling up at him.

"Well… he's certainly... unpredictable." Said the Scout looking for anything to say.

"Is he friendly?" Asked a small voice from the back.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What are his political affiliations?" Asked someone from the front."

"I really have no idea. Why would you need to know that anyway?"

"How did he get to be so smart?"

"Is he handsome?"

"Is he single?"

"Is he looking for someone to travel with?"

"Where is he from?" Question after question came faster than the Scout could answer them. The constant shouting and question about the man who used to be his hero became too much for the Scout.

"Alright everyone shut up!" The shed became completely still "I need to know where the Doctor is, now can anyone tell me that?"

There was a faint murmur in the crowd. "We are all trying to find the Doctor ourselves. None of us can know when he will be back in London, or even on Earth. We all help each other out to gather any information we can to find him again. We can tell you if we find anything certain." Henry said, the smile never fading from his face.

The Scouts frustration had reached its peak. "If all you have to go by is vague ideas of when the Doctor will be back then you are no use to me! Also," The Scout continued. "The Doctor isn't your savior! As soon as he finishes with you, he'll just leave all of you behind, he won't be here to save you next time!" The Scout finished his rant leaving the crowd in stunned silence. The Scout took the moment of shock to quickly escape through the crowd before they became an angry mob. Everyone in the congregation seemed to have a different reaction to the strange man's outburst.

Some were angry that he would be so rude, others began feeling a tiny bit of doubt about their faith, but most were just confused. Henry sat perfectly still in the front row clutching his cane and taking in everything the Scout said.

"I should not have said that that was a stupid thing to do." Was all that was going through the Scouts mind as he walked as quickly as possibly without drawing suspicion.

Because of the Scouts loop of self-loathing in his head distracting him from the walk, he found himself in front of his TARDIS door again in what felt like record time. As the Scout reached for the door, something caught his attention. A golden medallion hung from a chain on the doorknob. The medallion was completely blank, except for a few scratch marks on its face. The Scout moved his fingers over each scratch mark in an attempt to identify their origin, but the Scout found himself completely unable to place anything about the golden object.

"Computer, run a scan of, whatever this thing is." The Scout said pushing the TARDIS door open.

Instead of the immediate response and quick completion of his command that he was expecting, the Scout was instead met with the sight of the TARDIS computer spinning around as much as ceiling mounted mechanical leg it was attached to would allow.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOO! I HAVENT HAD THIS MUCH FUN IN YEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRS!" The computer cried with glee

"What did you do?" The Scout said pointing accusation at Jerry.

"Why do you think this was my fault?" Jerry said hiding under the bar, so the computer wouldn't accidently hit.

"You're the one with the alcohol!"

"Well how was I supposed to know a computer can get drunk, I'm still not sure how this is possible. Besides you told me not to pour anything out unless someone was drinking it, so I gave it to the computer. In a way, this is your fault."

Before the Scout could say anything back, the medallion in his hand started to shake and soon flew out of his hand attaching itself to the TARDIS console. In a flash of sparks and light, the room became completely dark and silent, with Jerry laying over the bar and the computer hanging from its mechanical leg, both lifeless. The medallion then opened and projected a large holographic head of an old man. While the white hair and old features were relatively new, in those eyes was the unmistakable traveled stare of a man who had seen it all but was still unsatisfied, the eyes of the Doctor.

The Doctor spoke with a calm anger that made the Scout feel like he was a child being scolded by his father. "I am aware that you are looking for me, to bring me home. I'll tell you there's a reason I left Gallifrey, and nothing you do or say will convince me to return. If you continue to pursue me, then I'll have to take more permanent action. Consider this your final warning."

With those words, the medallion closed again, and the head of the doctor vanished. The TARDIS quickly started to shake and spin throwing the Scout back and forth across the room. On one of his trips sliding across the floor the Scout was able to grab onto the console and attempted to retake control. None of the buttons or levers were responsive. The Scout now found himself on an uncontrollable ride to an unknown destination.


	3. Two Step Forward, 2 Centuries Back

After what felt like hours of the Scout's TARDIS spinning and hurtling through space and time, the whole control room suddenly stopped, throwing the nauseated Scout against the console. The TARDIS control room was completely dark and unnervingly silent.

"Computer? Jerry?" The Scout called out to his mechanical assistants.

There was no response from either of the robots as the computer monitor hung limply from the mechanical leg that attached to the ceiling. The Scout wondered why the emergency lights hadn't kicked in yet as he felt his way through the room attempting to find the door. This task was made exponentially harder by the fact that The Time Scout was still dizzy after his uncontrollable ride. Upon finding the ornate double doors, the agent of Gallifrey pushed against them with as much force as he could muster. The doors swung open throwing the Scout onto a cobblestone street.

Before he could get back to his feet, the doors slammed shunt locking the Scout out of his own TARDIS. Pounding his fist against the door, the Scout screamed in frustration at no one imparticular. Calming down a bit, the defeated scout laid his head on the cold wood of the doors trying to think of how he was going to get to The Doctor and get home.

"Now that you're finished with your little tantrum, can we talk?" Said a light yet authoritative voice from behind the scout.

The Scout spun around to see a veiled woman in a black dress accompanied by a young woman who kept her hand clutch on the handle of a katana.

"Who are you?" The Scout said, ready to defend himself against the unknown couple.

"A friend of the Doctor." The veiled woman said calmly.

"Then you can tell me where I am, and why I'm here!" The Scout commanded still on the defense.

The young woman stepped ahead of her companion and began drawing her sword, but was stopped by the veiled woman. "Calm now my love, he means us no harm yet" The woman lifted her veil to reveal the green lizard-like face of a Silurian.

The Scout had only read about the Silurains but never had the chances to speak with one in person. His curiosity at speaking with a Silurian overshadowed his weariness.

"I am Vastra this is my wife, Jenny." Jenny sheathed her sword but was still ready to draw it again at the slightest hint of ill will from the Time Scout. "You are in London 1888." Vastra continued. "Have you been here before?"

The scout took in his soundings. The smells of fish and sewage filled his nose while the light raindrops descended from the gray sky.

"I've been to this time once," said The Scout. "But I don't remember it being this depressing."

Vastra and Jenny both looked at each other easily convening their displeasure with the Scouts comments but decided to let it go.

"I need you to come with me, I'll explain everything on the way." Vastra said firmly.

The Scout looked back at the locked door to his TARDIS; even though the door physically looked the same something about it felt dead and hollow, like it was once alive, but its soul had been sucked out. The young Time Scout never believed in the idea that a TARDIS is a living thing like some other Time Lords do, but he had to admit that he felt some sort of connection to the ship like it was his pet or even his friend. There were plenty of reasons for The Scout to be angry at the Doctor, but whatever he had done to the TARDIS propelled The Scout's anger even higher. He wanted to meet the Doctor face to face, to yell at him for everything he had done, and after that, he would bring the Doctor home in any way he had too, even if it was in chains. The Silurian was his best lead in his mission, and like it or not he would have to go with her.

"Alright I'll go with you, But I wanna know everything. Why I'm here, Why you're here, and where the Doctor is." The Scout said attempting to intimidate Vastra.

The Silurian gave a sly smile. "I'll agree to those terms."


End file.
